Credit Card Carry

[Anonymous]

Hey, everyone.

I currently have only three bank cards and do not want more.

They are AMEX BCP, Citi DC, and Chase Freedom Flex.

I want to leave one at home (so I have one if my wallet is lost or stolen) and carry two in the wallet.

Main spend is groceries and "everything else."

Moderate spend is drugstores (under $1500 yearly). Everyday spending is maybe $30000-35000 annually.

I obviously need to carry AMEX BCP for the 6% groceries.

I could team it with Citi DC for 2% everything else. That is what I have been doing.

Or, I could convert Freedom Flex to  Freedom Unlimited and get 1.5% on everyday spend, and 3% on drug stores and dining (which we are doing none of as of now).

One card (other than AMEX BCP) will stay in my SD.

Which is a better daily driver, CITI DC or Freedom Unlimited?

PS I really don't care about quarterly promotions and don't spend heavily in quarterly categories.

I am leaning toward leaving Freedom Flex at home in my SD and carrying CITI DC.

I am having a desire to simplify my rewards spending.

Any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

If you have a modern cell phone, I would also consider adding the cards to a mobile wallet (apple, google, samsung) and then, at least at some merchants, you will have a choice of which cards to use and choosing just one "daily driver" isn't quite so essential. 

If NFC is rare where you are, this doesn't help, but in my area, most merchants do accept mobile payment.

[fatcomic]

I would use the Citi DC as the everyday card and park the Freedom Flex, if you're only spending $1,500 annually at drugstores, the difference in the 1% you'll lose by putting it on Citi DC vs Freedom Flex is $15 a year  (that is assuming your other than drug store and grocery spending would be greater than $1,500 a year).  With the Citi DC you'll earn 2% on everything else that AmEx BCP doesn't do for you.   

If your misc spending outside of the drug stores is less than $1,500 a year, I would do a product change to the Freedom Unlimited and gain the extra 1%.  

Either way we're talking about 0.005% difference in misc spending if you converted to the Freedom Unlimited, it's not going to make a huge difference to be honest.   

Or alternative outside the box options, if you use Walgreens they will let you add a card to your file to charge our prescriptions to, you could add the Freedom Flex to Walgreens and park the physical card in the sock drawer.  You could also add the Freedom Flex to your phone with Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or Chase Pay and use the Freedom Flex at the drugstore as a digital card.   

[PullingMeSoftly]

If you use Apple Pay, then you could leave both the BCP and Flex at home, and just carry the Citi DC in case you need to physically swipe a card. I haven't used my physical BCP card for over a year, as most of all the larger grocery chains accept Apple Pay (most common for me in my area are Smart & Final, Safeway, Lucky's). Same is true even for larger neighborhood grocery markets that aren't chains.

If the grocery stores you frequent require a physical card, then just carry the BCP and DC. Since you don't have gas or dining spend, leave the Flex at home. The moment you start eating out or buying gas, especially during Q2, then you'd see more use out of your Flex.